April 2018 challenge

Hello!!!

Thanks for all your amazing entries for the COLOUR challenge!!

Here is the challenge for April 2018

As the challenge has started late this month, it will run till the 29th of April.

FLOWERS!!!

The possibilities are endless! 

I'm waiting to see all your creativity!!

HOW TO PLAY

Make a card or tag using the theme given. 

Take a photo of your creation and link it up below.

If you have a blog, write a post about our challenge and link it back to our challenge, including photos of your card or tag.

Please display this storyboard prominently in your blog post so that others may be inspired to play.

ALSO, please display this logo prominently on the sidebar of your blog so that others may join us.

FOLLOW/JOIN  THIS BLOG

 FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM AND TAG YOUR SUBMISSIONS ON SOCIAL MEDIA WITH THE TAG

#PCMCHALLENGES

If you don't have a blog, post your photos on social media and TAG them with #PCMCHALLENGES

If you don't tag them, we will not see them on social media.

VERY IMPORTANT

PLEASE Link your blogpost/social media post to the linky below.

INSPIRATION

Here is some inspiration to start you off this month.

For my first project, I made a gift tag using Hero Arts woodblock and cling stamps and Mft dies.

I started by die cutting the tag using an Mft tag die. 

I then created a background using the hero arts birthday background stamp.  

I then stamped and coloured the flower (also from Hero Arts) using Sakura Koi watercolours. 

I fussy cut the flower and adhered it to the tag using 3D foam tape.

I die cut some leaves using Mft dienamics tropical leaves dies. 

I then used Tim Holtz' mowed lawn distress ink to darken the edges of the leaves, to create some interest.

I finished the tag with a bit of jute twine from Mayarts ribbon.

For my second project, I have combined stamps and dies from my fabulous sponsors this month...Lawn Fawn and Craftangles by HNDMD.

I recently purchased the new Lawn Fawn pivot pop up die and couldn't wait to use it!!

To make this card, I started out with a white card base, which I masked and watercoloured using my Camel watercolours, to create a soft teal wash. Once it was dry, I used a hero arts background stamp to stamp some dots to create some interest. 

I then stamped, watercoloured and fussy cut some cherry blossom flowers from the Craftangles 'Mom you rock' stamp set and adhered them to the card base. 

I then die cut the sentiment (from Winnie and Walter), and, used Memento Angel Pink ink  and Tim Holtz 'bubblegum' distress ink to colour it. 

Once the sentiment was adhered, I added the birthday sentiment (from Hero Arts) and some wooden hearts (Craftangles).

As you open the card, you can now see the mechanism at work.

Once open, You can see the full card.

I stamped and watercoloured the pop up part of the card using stamps from the Craftangles 'Mom you rock' stamp set and Camel watercolours.

I also stamped the inside of the card using Hero Arts small dots background stamp and Memento Angel pink ink. 

I finished the card with a sentiment from Paper Wishes.

You can learn how to make a Pivot Pop Up card here.

Here is a video to show you how this fun card pops up!

I am playing the simon Says Stamp Wednesday 'Happy Birthday' Challenge with this card!

To inspire you some more, I have the amazingly talented 

Bharati Nayudu

Hello there!

I am Bharati Nayudu and I am very excited and greatly honoured to play along with Paru's Card Making Challenges as Guest Designer for the month of April. 

The theme is flowers -to welcome spring,

Many thanks, Paru, for having me over!

I live in Visakhapatnam, a coastal city in India with my 10 yr old son (who loves craft as well) and my loving husband-my soulmate. I have a talented little sister who is my best pal and an artist. I am an HR executive by profession and crafter at heart, committed to spreading handmade happiness.

I started blogging and entering online craft challenges from August 2017. 

Although, I am quite new to the blogland, thanks to a very encouraging and supportive crafting community, I feel completely at home. 

It's as if the mothership found me and now I live in the world of crafts!

Besides card making, I also enjoy quilling,decoupage art, art journaling and giving virtual hugs to crafty friends all around the world.

may your spring be filled with colourful flowers and cards.

 I blog at www.bharatinayudu.com and  I am active on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/bharati_nayudu

My first project is a card inspired by my dear friend Sanjeevini, who has a very happy and cheerful personality and who loves flowers and bursts of colours.

To make this card i started with heat embossing, in white, the flowers and leaves from the stamp set 'More spring flowerw' by Simon Says Stamp.

I then added distress in to each image using finger dabbers and fussy cut them.

While adding the ink, mixing two or more colours to get a gradient look always works.

I then took another white card piece and heat embossed the sentiment in white before ink blending the panel. The white heat embossed sentiment goes with the white outline and the dash line on the images. I then die cut a rectangular white card panel and then cut an oval window through it.

I then adhered the leaves and flowers on the white window panel with tape. I also used foam squares in a few places for dimension. I then adhered the window panel with the images using foam tape on to the ink blended card stock with the sentiment, I finished the card by adding a few sequins and adhering the whole card from to a deep green card base.

Apart from the colourful look, I love how a portion of the leaves is inside the window and few leaves pop out of the card from the top and bottom on the card.

I really had a ton of fun making my second project which is a thank you tag.

I started with smooshing distress oxide inks on my craft mat and spraying some water. I then pressed my tag onto the ink. I repeated this process several times till I was happy with the results. Building layers of colour each time by adding ink, splattering water and drying between the layers. I then added interest by stamping some scripty font in black ink and the stamp i used is by Hero Arts and its called ‘Old French writing’. To add more interest i stamped randomly pattern from Bo Bunny’s  rough-it-up stamp set using spiced marmalade distress ink. I also added an image of a swirly ribbon in black ink from Inbetweenies stamp set by  Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions. To add some texture to the tag i applied some embossing paste using a stencil by Tim Holtz. I was gifting a pack of beautiful flowers by Prima that I was hording since long and finally found place this tag. Before adhering the  flowers and the word die cut in black by Mudra Stamps, i did add few splatters of black ink with a thin brush. Then all that was left to do was to tie a white ribbon on the tag.

As you  can see I played with a lot of crafty goodies while making this tag and therefore enjoyed the whole process.

The theme for the month..FLOWERS has many possibilities and I hope my projects inspire you to play along.

Thanks agoin, Paru, for the wonderful opportunity!

THE PRIZES

A $25 gift card from 

Lawn Fawn

and 

A Rs. 1000 hamper from 

HNDMD

The challenge will run till the 29th of April...

I am extending it this month as the challenge started late.

The winners will be announced on the 30th of April.

Don't forget to stop by!

Please link up your creations below.

To be eligible to win a prize, please follow all the instructions carefully...

you will find them above and in under 'how to play' in the right sidebar.

Thanks so much for stopping by...

Have a great day!

Paru Mahtani

An InLinkz Link-up

January '18 Challenge winners

 Hello!!

Thank you so much for playing my second anniversary challenge.

I am thrilled to see all your different interpretations of the word

NEW!

Here are the winners for this month! 

For  the 1st $25 gift card from 

Winnie and Walter

Kristina's Art Corner

I just cant get over the creativity of using a snow globe die  as  a fish tank!!

Just brilliant!!

For the

2nd $25 gift voucher from 

Winnie and Walter

Sabiha

How cute is this box card for a baby!! 

The detail is incredible!

For the 

Fabulous goodie bag from 

HNDMD

 worth Rs. 1500

Cornelia

I just fell in love with her partially die cut numbers and the stunningly blended scene!

For a surprise personal gift from me..

Sweety Gupta

Her colouring and spotlight technique are impeccable!!

and for another personal surprise gift from me...

Mugdha Gujarathi

I was blown away by Mugdha's creativity and imagination in the interpretation of the word NEW!!

VERY IMPORTANT

I have a sincere request to the winners..

PLEASE SHARE YOUR PRIZES ON SOCIAL MEDIA!

The more you share, the better chance you have at winning awesome prizes from more and more sponsors.

If, for any reason   you do not wish to accept the prize, (such as not being able to pay for shipping of the prize), please contact me ASAP, so that I may pass on the prize to someone else.

Remember...

The February challenge will go live on 1st February 2018 at 12 am IST. 

Don't forget to come and play!!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Have a great day!!

Paru Mahtani

January 2018 Challenge

Hello!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I cannot believe we are celebrating

2 years 

of Paru's Card Making Challenges!!!!

Thank you all so much for coming back to play my challenges month after month!!!

I am truly humbled by your love!

Here is the challenge for January 2018

You can make a New Year card, a card for a new baby, new house, a wedding (new journey), a card for someone starting a new job, new studies, or, even use new craft material!!!

The possibilities are endless! 

Let see your creative juices flow!!

HOW TO PLAY

Make a card or tag using the theme given. 

Take a photo of your creation and link it up below.

If you have a blog, write a post about our challenge and link it back to our challenge, including photos of your card or tag.

Please display this storyboard prominently in your blog post so that others may be inspired to play.

ALSO, please display this logo prominently on the sidebar of your blog so that others may join us.

FOLLOW/JOIN  THIS BLOG

 FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM AND TAG YOUR SUBMISSIONS ON SOCIAL MEDIA WITH THE TAG

#PCMCHALLENGES

If you don't have a blog, post your photos on social media and TAG them with #PCMCHALLENGES

If you don't tag them, we will not see them on social media.

Link your blogpost/social media post to the linky below.

INSPIRATION

I've made a lot of cards  to inspire you this month!

The first card is a super simple shaker card using my sponsor Winnie and Walter's 'Cheers' die.

I think it makes a great NEW Years card, hence following the theme of NEW!

The sequins in the shaker are from my sponsor Hndmd.

I cut out a shaker window using Simon Says Stamp stitched square die at an angle to create some interest. I placed the die cut Cheers sentiment across the window to finish the card.

The cute tag below is made using stamps from the Craftangles (by HNDMD) 'Indian Wedding' stamp set, watercolours and concentric stitched dies from Simon Says Stamp. 

I decided to leave the focal image black and white and use watercolours around it. 

I also added a silver and gold bell for fun. I wish I could make you hear how festive it sounds!

The next card is also made using my sponsor Hndmd's Craftangles 'Indian wedding' stamp set. I stamped, watercoloured and die cut the image and matted it with  a larger die cut of the same shape.

I used patterned paper from Craftangles to create a background for my image. I finished the card with some jute twine from MayArts and some silver and gold bells and sequins.

The sentiment from the same stamp set is typed inside the card.

Weddings are NEW beginnings, so here too I follow the theme of the challenge.

For more inspiration, I made some cards using NEW supplies that I recently purchased!

The first card features the VW Beetle die from Flora & Fauna stamps. The background is white embossed and ink blended and the sentiment is handwritten. 

I created the yellow striped using Craftangles 'Stripes' stencil.

I made the card below using my awesome NEW dies from My Favourite Things.

I have been dreaming about making this card!!!

The box die is from Lawn Fawn, the bottles are from MFT and the wood grain stamp is from 

Bo Bunny!

For the next card, I used my brand NEW stamps from 

Flora and Fauna stamps.

I created the background with Impression Obsession Map stamp and Memento London Fog ink.

I masked, watercoloured and die cut the focal image. 

Upon my son's suggestion, I extended the stripes from the focal image onto the background.

I think it creates great interest.

I made the tag/bookmark below using brand NEW stamps from 

Three Room Studio, designed by the awesome Sandy Boon!

I used my white Signo gel pen to create interest on the kraft background.

This month my Guest Designer is 

Anila Dikay

She has an amazingly clean style and she has some fun cards to inspire you!

Hello Friends,

I'm Anila.

To begin with, wish you all a very Happy New Year!

May this year bring you lots of creativity and innovations!

I am super happy to be Guest Designing at 

Paru's card Making Challenges.

I am a Mumbai based crafter. I was working as an Art and Craft teacher in a reputed school, in Mumbai. I got into blogging and crafting since last year. CAS card making is something I enjoy the most. I am greatly inspired by many crafters around.

You can see more of my work at my blog "Novel Ideas" or my Instagram handle "aniladk"

I am extremely grateful to Paru for giving me this opportunity.

I am sharing a card and tag today which I made based on the current theme of the month

NEW!

I am using a new stamp set here for both my projects.

Also, the sentiments used here are some quotations which I found online and printed out.

The sentiments reflect the new beginnings and the new opportunities brought in by the New Year.

Here is a look at them...

My card is made using MFT(My Favourite Things) Happy Hedgehogs stamp set.

I stamped the images, coloured them with Zig markers and fussy cut them.

I printed the sentiments on white cardstock.

I die cut the sentiment panel using a stitched rectangular die.

On a card base, I adhered the pattern paper from MFT.

I then mounted the rectangular die cut on the base using foam adhesive.

I adhered the images on the card and created the grass effect using pencil colours.

To make this tag, I used the same MFT Hedgehog stamp set. I stamped the image, coloured with Zig and fussy cut the image. On a white tag, I stamped the flower image from the same stamp set using green dye ink. Adhere the MFT pattern paper on the tag.  

I printed out the sentiment and die cut the same using the stitiched rectangle die.

I mounted this on the patterned paper using foam adhesive.

I adhered the image on the tag. 

Lastly, I added a few sequins and tied the ribbons to the tag.

I hope I was able to inspire you today!

Happy Crafting!!

Anila

THE PRIZES

2

$25 gift cards from 

Winnie and Walter!!

A goodie bag worth 

Rs.1500

from HNDMD

and 

Two Surpise gifts 

from me personally

The winners will be announced on the 28th of January,

 so don't forget to stop by!

Please link up your creations below.

To be eligible to win a prize, please follow all the instructions carefully...

you will find them above and in under 'how to play' in the right sidebar.

Thanks so much for stopping by...

Have a great day!

Paru Mahtani

I am playing the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday 'Anything goes' Challenge.

An InLinkz Link-up

February challenge

Hello everyone! 

What a great number of submissions we had for the January challenge! We sure started off the year with a bang!

Here is the February challenge!

HOW TO PLAY

Make a card or tag using the theme given. 

Take a photo of your creation and link it up below.

If you have a blog, write a post about our challenge and link it back to our challenge, including photos of your card or tag.

Please display this storyboard prominently in your blog post so that others may be inspired to play.

ALSO, please display this logo prominently on the sidebar of your blog so that others may join us.

FOLLOW/JOIN  THIS BLOG

 FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM AND TAG YOUR SUBMISSIONS ON SOCIAL MEDIA WITH THE TAG

#PCMCHALLENGES

If you don't have a blog, post your photos on social media and TAG them with #PCMCHALLENGES

If you don't tag them, we will not see them on social media.

Link your blogpost/social media post to the linky below.

Now for some inspiration...

I created this card using Impression Obessions dies and stamps from the 'Rinding Pretty' set!
And, then, I used the Chibitronics led light circuit to light up this card!!!

Other stamps and dies used as from Hero Arts, lawn Fawn and Litle B

Isn't this fun?

You can learn how to create your own circuit using the Chibitronics starter kit, HERE.

I also made this tag using the beautiful hollyhocks die from Impression Obsession, and a stencil from My Favourite Things. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp and the pretty sequins from 

Pretty Pink Posh.

For more inspiration,

I have the Fabulously talented 

Bhavana Kesarkar

as my guest designer today!

I have admired her work for many years, so its a real honour to have her here to inspire us today!

Hi Everyone!

I am Bhavana. Thank You Paru, for inviting me as a  guest designer!

I feel so honoured.

A little about me..

I am from India and currently live in Santa Clara, California. I love card making and I have been making cards for the past 6 years. 

I love anything artsy and craftsy. You can check out my work at my blog 

Blending art and craft

I am excited and had fun making cards with the LOVE theme.

My first card is very simple; I did an ink smooshing technique for the background using 'Fired Brick' distress ink and water, the love hand sign is from Paper Smooches 'Helping Hand' stamp set.

For my second card, I used Sugar Pea designs, 'Enchanted Garden' stamp set and dies.

I used  Zig real brush pens watercolour markers to colour them. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp 'Favourite flowers' stamp set.

I adhered the image using foam tap and added some clear sequins to finish my card.

For the tag, I used Winnie and Walter's 'You've got mail' stamp set. For the background stamping I used aged mahogany distress ink and did second generation stamping and for the envelopes I used water colours. 

The stamped sentiment is from the same set.

I hope you have been inspired!

Happy Crafting!

THE PRIZES

This month we have two outstanding sponsors!

We have a starter pack from 

Chibitronics

and 

 a $50 gift card 

from 

Impression Obsession

I hope that you have been inspired

 to create some fun tags and cards for LOVE

 and to join in the challenge!

The winner will be announced on the 28th of February , so don't forget to stop by!

Please link up your creations below.

To be eligible to win a prize, please follow all the instructions carefully...

you will find them above and in under 'how to play' in the right sidebar.

Thanks so much for stopping by...

Have a great day!

Paru Mahtani

An InLinkz Link-up